Teleflora – An Epic Social Media #FAIL – Updated!
Three weeks ago red blooded American males were gathered around our TV’s in celebration of that most American event called the Superbowl. The game of course is not only celebrated for the football that will be played, but for the foods that are eaten and the commercials that are run.
Early in the first quarter this ad was played:
Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of men decided they needed to buy flowers for Valentines Day.
Me included, and for the added surcharge you to could “Give” on Valentines Day and make sure your flowers (and chocolates) arrived on the big day.
Fast forward to the big day. I thought it strange that during the day I never got the message from my wife that “The flowers came they are so beautiful ….” instead by the time I got home at 6pm still no flowers. Checked my email nothing from Teleflora about any delays.
But when I checked Twitter there was an explosion of people complaining that Teleflora was emailing them that night and saying that they were not going to be able to deliver their flowers … despite in many cases them being ordered just a few minutes after the airing of their million dollar ad during the Super Bowl.
Screen shots of some of the many complaints that were being aired:
In real time more and more complaints were being added by the second.
It wasn’t in just one place in the country it was happening everywhere.
And all along Teleflora was silent. As a tidal wave of negative publicity was sweeping over Twitter they were silent. And Twitter became a feeding frenzy with links being sent out to media and reporters asking for someone to look into all of the money that Teleflora took from people and never delivered.
I know someone that’s gonna have a tough day. Marvin you should call in sick today, cause you are going to be on BLAST!
So it goes without saying that you should never buy any flowers from Teleflora ever … they can deliver a great Super Bowl ad, but they can’t deliver on the Super Bowl of Flower Days.
Unlike Teleflora every company today has to be monitoring Social Media and when something goes wrong you have to engage.
To see just how big a failure this was, if Teleflora took you money and you didn’t “receive” add your name and order number to the comments section of this blog and we’ll keep a running total of just how many Valentine Days they ruined!
ManagementBytes 
Got a call from Whitney at Teleflora last night. She asked if we had received the flowers. I told her we got some flowers on 2/15 but they were not what we ordered. She asked if we had sent them back to the florist, I advised her no were were never asked to and that I’d consider it terribly bad form.
After letting her know the bouquet wasn’t what I ordered and could better be characterized as a funeral arrangement. She refunded the entire order amount.
15107450- order number
5 calls (20 min hold times for all, and then silent line)
3 emails
7 days
no response………
If you really want to see how many “no shows”, check out the Teleflora Facebook Page. It is full of complaints about wrong flowers, no flowers, delayed flowers, bad and rude customer service. I received an email late on Valentine’s Day with an apology that the flowers did not get delivered (see blow). This was after trying on and off all day to get through via the phone. I had to cancel the charge with my Bank because even though they said order was refunded, that was not the case.
“We are deeply sorry that we were unable to deliver your Valentine’s Day gift on the day you requested. Unfortunately, the local Teleflora florist has sold out of your selection. We have cancelled your order and refunded your credit in full so you will have the opportunity to choose another gift. We know this is a big disappointment and we’d like to try to make it up to you. Next time you place a Teleflora order, please accept a 30% discount with our compliments.”
Epic customer service fail! Never received my flowers for me and my boyfriend’s 1st Valentine’s Day together – Order number 15083942. They have his $80 and I still have no flowers. Thanks Teleflora!
Marcus was able to find out what florist my order was supposed to go through locally, so he didnt have to deal with teleflora’s “customer service”. However, the local florist wasnt much more help…. The address that they use for their business is a building that is locked up…. Marcus had to bang on the door with his cane (dont ask) to get anyone to come to the door…. All they did was say “it was valentines day… We were busy”, and offer to add chocolates to my delivery. Marcus proceeded to call them 4-5 times during the day…. Every time they said they had just dropped off the flowers….. But i still didnt have anything. They finally came at 3:30, probably only because of Marcus’ persistance….. And apparently there were supposed to be roses in the arrangement, but there were in fact only tulips and carnations (which i still love and think they are beautiful…. But that doesnt change the fact that the order was not correct). Anyway…. We will not be using teleflora OR arctic floral again, needless to say.
Order #14779252. My Teleflora flowers were never delivered on Valentine’s Day, a complete failure and ripoff.
Called Customer at 5pm PST and their offices were already closed, no customer support. Called 2/15/12 numerous times and ended up waiting 2+ hours in total to finally get a representative.
Representative offered an apology note and 50% off my next order! She said my ordered was denied by the local florist due to volume even though I placed it 8 days earlier. I was never notified that my order would not be delivered, nothing, no notice. I asked for a full refund several times and she offered 20% refund. I finally settled on a 50% refund on this order that was never delivered & 50% off my next order, which I never use.
Teleflora is a terrible service. Do not trust them to deliver unless you want to explain to you loved ones why they didn’t receive your flowers.
When you call their customer service line and select “check delivery,” you enter your number and nothing happens. You need to go through the process as if your ordering flowers, and you’ll reach a person. After 30 minutes (for me). A person who doesn’t care about the fact that your flowers weren’t delivered and no one bothered to tell you why. Because of “high call volume” (angry customers whose flowers weren’t delivered), the rep couldn’t tell me why or who the florist was. I insisted on talking to a supervisor, and after a mere 10 minutes, I did. She offered me a 30% discount to have the flowers delivered TODAY. I said no thanks, I want all my money back, including the surcharge for VDay delivery. And she said she’ll find out what happened and call me back. What are the chances that 1) my money will be refunded and 2) I’ll hear from them about my order?
This is the MOST IMPORTANT DAY for this company to do what it’s supposed to do. It would be like if the fireworks company delivered the fireworks on July 5. Or if Santa Claus found his way down the chimney on Dec. 26.
Garbage Company. Ruined Valentine’s Day. Promised delivery 2/14 for a $22 service charge!!! And didn’t deliver the flowers!!!!!
Can you sue for a lost day?
My husband ordered an expensive bouquet for me for Valentines Day and it NEVER SHOWED UP!! Today he called their “Customer Service” department and they kept him on HOLD for 60 MINUTES then HUNG UP ON HIM!! This is bullshit. By far the worst customer service, we have ever experienced. Such a waste of time and money. We will never to order from Teleflora again. What a shitty company!
My order was never delivered and I’ve been on hold for an hour now trying to get it fixed! I have a 3 month old child at home and don’t have the time to waste sitting on hold! I am so dumbfounded by this horrible customer service. I am so angry and upset! I will never do business with this company again and am telling all my friends and family to never do business with them. I am so completely floored by how horrible this business is!
14713225….Premium upcharge for what???????
Rebecca West – order #14979179. Also no response to any of my attempts to contact them….and my posts were deleted off of their facebook.
Kris K – Order 15001760